U.S. patent number 4,099,284 [Application Number 05/770,768] was granted by the patent office on 1978-07-11 for hand sweeper for carpets.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Tanita Corporation. Invention is credited to Yasao Mikami, Kazuo Nagasawa, Mamoru Shinozaki, Yuichi Takahama, Hachiro Tubaki.
United States Patent |
4,099,284 |
Shinozaki , et al. |
July 11, 1978 |
Hand sweeper for carpets
Abstract
Driving wheels for auxiliary rotary wheels are provided at the
forward corners of a sweeper in a spaced relationship from driving
wheels for a main rotary brush to provide a long wheel base.
Inventors: |
Shinozaki; Mamoru (Tokyo,
JP), Takahama; Yuichi (Kawagoe, JP),
Tubaki; Hachiro (Kawagoe, JP), Nagasawa; Kazuo
(Tokyo, JP), Mikami; Yasao (Tokyo, JP) |
Assignee: |
Tanita Corporation (Tokyo,
JP)
|
Family
ID: |
26356561 |
Appl.
No.: |
05/770,768 |
Filed: |
February 22, 1977 |
Foreign Application Priority Data
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Feb 20, 1976 [JP] |
|
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51-19715[U] |
Mar 16, 1976 [JP] |
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51-31880[U] |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
15/42 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A47L
11/33 (20130101); A47L 11/4013 (20130101); A47L
11/4038 (20130101); A47L 11/4041 (20130101); A47L
11/4069 (20130101); A47L 11/4072 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A47L
11/00 (20060101); A47L 11/33 (20060101); A47L
011/33 () |
Field of
Search: |
;15/42 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
Primary Examiner: Roberts; Edward L.
Claims
We claim:
1. A hand sweeper comprising a body having a handle pivotably
connected thereto, a base removably connected to said body, said
base having a front end and a rear end and forming a dust box, a
main rotary brush extending across said dust box, driving wheels on
said base adjacent said rear end for rotating said main rotary
brush to sweep dust into said dust box, auxiliary rotary brushes
rotatably mounted on said base at its forward corners, each of said
auxiliary rotary brushes including a horizontal shaft fixedly
supported on the base and extending forwardly and outwardly from
the base and at an oblique angle with respect to said main rotary
brush, a boss rotatably mounted on said shaft, auxiliary driving
wheels rotatably supported on said base adjacent said rear end in
spaced relationship to said driving wheels for said main rotary
brush, and means for transmitting rotation of said auxiliary
driving wheels to said auxiliary rotary brushes to rotate them
around said horizontal axes, said transmitting means including a
bevel gear formed integrally with said boss, and a bevel gear
formed on each of said two auxiliary driving wheels and
respectively meshing with said bevel gear on said auxiliary rotary
brush.
2. A hand sweeper according to claim 1, wherein said boss has an
extension formed integrally therewith and a pair of diametrically
opposed projections, and each of said brushes including a brush
head with a cup-like brush and removably connected to said boss,
said brush head having an integral cylindrical portion with a pair
of diametrically opposed slots, each of said slots having arcuate
recesses for receiving said projection to removably connect said
brush head to said boss when said brush head has been fitted onto
said extension of said boss.
3. A hand sweeper according to claim 2 wherein said cup-like brush
is formed by holding bristles thereof provided on said brush head
in an annular form, by means of a holder connected to said brush
head.
Description
This invention relates to hand sweepers for carpets capable of
sweeping dust into a dust box thereof by a rotary brush and more
particularly, to a hand sweeper wherein auxiliary rotary brushes
are provided at the forward corners thereof to sweep dust away from
the corners of floors towards a path on which a main rotary brush
passes.
A hand sweeper known heretofore is of a type that a pair of driving
wheels are provided at either side thereof for frictionally
engaging each of driven wheels to transmit rotation thereof to the
main rotary brush and one of the driving wheels is also used to
rotate an auxiliary rotary brush which is provided at either
forward corner of the sweeper base. This type of hand sweeper has a
disadvantage that pitching of the sweeper takes place during its
backward and forward movements due to the fact that the driving
wheels do not have a wheel base long enough to provide a stable
support of the sweeper.
A main object of the present invention is to provide a hand sweeper
which eliminates such a disadvantage set forth above.
This object is achieved by providing a hand sweeper wherein driving
wheels for auxiliary rotary wheels are provided at the forward
corners thereof in a spaced relationship from driving wheels for a
main rotary brush to provide a wheel base long enough to support
the sweeper in a stable state.
According to the invention, there is provided a hand sweeper
comprising a body having a handle pivotably connected thereto, a
base removably connected to said body and forming a dust box, a
main rotary brush extending across said dust box, driving wheels on
said base for rotating said main rotary brush to sweep dust into
said dust box, auxiliary rotary brushes rotatably mounted on said
base at its forward corners and each having a horizontal axis
extending forwardly and outwardly of the base, driving wheels
rotatably supported on said base in a spaced relationship from said
driving wheels for said main rotary brush and means for
transmitting rotation of said auxiliary driving wheels to said
auxiliary rotary brushes to rotate them around said horizontal
axes.
Further advantageous features of the present invention will become
more apparent from the following description of a preferred
embodiment of the hand sweeper according to the invention taken in
conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:
FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a hand sweeper according to the
present invention;
FIG. 2 shows a vertical cross-section of the hand sweeper shown in
FIG. 1;
FIG. 3 shows a top plan view of a base of the hand sweeper shown in
FIG. 1;
FIG. 4 shows an exploded view of parts of the auxiliary rotary
brush; and
FIG. 5 shows a cross-sectional view of the auxiliary rotary
brush.
Referring to the drawings, a hand sweeper according to the present
invention comprises a body 10 having a handle 11 pivotally
connected to the upper surface thereof and a base 12 removably
connected to the body 10 and having front and rear walls 13 and 14,
and side walls 15 formed integrally therewith. Preferably, the body
10 and the base 12 are made of any suitable plastic material. The
walls 13, 14 and 15 with the bottom of the base 12 define a dust
box 16 across which a main rotary brush 17 extends horizontally
between the side walls 15. A shaft 18 for the rotary brush extends
outwardly through the side walls 15 and is rotatably supported at
the outer ends thereof on bearing elements 19 and 19 projecting
from the base 12. The shaft 18 is provided with a pair of gears 20
and 20, each of which meshes with a gear 21 formed integrally with
a driving wheel 22 which is rotatably supported on the rearward
portion of one of the side walls 15 and one of protective walls 23
projecting from the bottom of the base 12 and extending parallel to
the side walls 15.
The base 12 has at its forward corner additional walls 24 inside
the side walls 15, each of the additional walls 24 having a portion
25 extending parallel to the side wall 15 in a spaced relationship
therefrom and an inwardly inclined wall portion 26 extending
between the wall portion 25 and the side wall 15.
Auxiliary rotary brushes 27 with axes extending forwardly outwardly
of the sweeper are positioned at the forward corners of the base
for sweeping dusts away from the corners of floors. As can be seen
from FIGS. 4 and 5, each of the auxiliary rotary brushes 27
comprises a boss 28 rotatably mounted on a stationary horizontal
shaft 29 which is fixedly supported on the inclined wall portion 26
with an axis thereof extending perpendicularly to the inclined wall
portion 26, and a brush head 30 removably connected to the boss 28
and having a brush 31. Bristles of the brush 31 in an annular form
have their ends inserted in an annular recess 32 formed in the
brush head 30. A holder 33 is provided with an inclined abutment
surface 34, for holding the annular bristles in the form of a cup
and a pair of legs 35 and 35 having at their ends hooks 36 and 36.
The holder 33 is connected to the brush head 30 by inserting the
legs 35 and 35 into a center bore 37 formed in the brush head 30
until the hooks 36 and 36 have engaged the end face of the head 30
opposite to the brush 31. Brush head 30 is provided with a
cylindrical portion 38 extending integrally from the end face
thereof and having a pair of diametrically opposed slots 39 and 39
which extend along an axis of the cylindrical portion 38. Each of
the slots 39 and 39 is formed with arcuate recesses 40 for
receiving one of a pair of diametrically opposed projections 41 and
41 formed on an extension 42 of the boss 28. A bevel gear 43 is
formed integrally with the boss 28 and meshed with a bevel gear 44
which is formed integrally with a driving wheel 45. The boss 28 is
held in position on the stationary shaft 29 by a retainer ring 46
fixed on the end of the shaft 29. The brush head 30 is removably
connected to the boss 28 by fitting the cylindrical portion 38 over
the extension 42 with the slots 39 and 39 receiving the projections
41 and 41 and by engaging the arcuate recesses 40 with the
projections 41 and 41.
Each of the driving wheels 45 and 45 is disposed in a space between
the additional wall portion 25 and the side wall 15 and rotatably
mounted on a shaft 47 which is fixedly supported on the wall
portion 25 and the side wall 15. Thus, rotation of each of the
driving wheels 45 and 45 is transmitted through the mutually meshed
bevel gears 43 and 44 to the auxiliary rotary brush 27 to rotate it
around the horizontal shaft 29.
It should be understood that frictional wheels may be substituted
for the bevel gears as means for transmitting rotation of the
driving wheels to the auxiliary rotary brushes.
In use, the sweeper according to the present invention is manually
moved back and forth by operation of the handle 11 so that the
driving wheels 22 and 22 are rotated to transmit their rotation
through the mutually meshed geaas 20 and 21 to the main rotary
brush 17, thereby sweeping dust into the dust box 16. At the same
time, rotation of the forward driving wheels 45 and 45 is
transmitted through the gears 43 and 44 to the auxiliary rotary
brushes 27 and 27 to rotate them, thereby sweeping inwardly the
dust from the opposite sides of the sweeper towards a path on which
the main rotary brush 17 passes. The auxiliary rotary brushes 27
and 27 are particularly effective to sweep out the dust from the
corners of floors so that the dust swept out can be swept into the
dust box by the main rotary brush.
The hand sweeper according to the present invention has an
advantage that it can be moved back and forth by operation of the
handle under a stable condition without any pitching due to the
fact that the driving wheels have a long wheel base.
According to the present invention, further, the auxiliary rotary
brushes can readily be replaced by new ones when they have worn
out. This is achieved by pulling out the brush head from the
extension of the boss and by fitting a new brush head onto the boss
extension.
* * * * *